Word.ws English Dictionary

coyest

coyest is the superlative form of coy.

Meaning of coy

Adjective

coy (comparative coyer, superlative coyest)

  1. (dated) Bashful, shy, retiring.
  2. (archaic) Quiet, reserved, modest.
  3. Reluctant to give details about something sensitive; notably prudish.
  4. Pretending shyness or modesty, especially in an insincere or flirtatious way.
    • The ill-bred miss, the bird-brained Jill, / May simper and be coy at will; / A lady, sir, as you will find, / Keeps counsel, or she speaks her mind, / Means what she says and scorns to fence / And palter with feigned innocence.1981, A. D. Hope, “His Coy Mistress to Mr. Marvell”, in A Book of Answers
  5. Soft, gentle, hesitating.
    • Enforced hate, / Instead of love's coy touch, shall rudely tear thee.1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC

See all 12 meanings of coy

Questions about coyest

What is coyest the superlative form of?
Coyest is the superlative form of coy.

Words near coyest in the dictionary

  1. Coye
  2. coyed
  3. coyer
  4. Coyers
  5. Coyes
  6. coyest
  7. COYG
  8. COYH
  9. Coyhaique
  10. COYI
  11. coying

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: coyest (page history and authors); coy (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “coyest.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/coyest. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.